Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Local venture capital firm Black Founders Matter is encouraging their entire industry to be more intentional about engaging BIPOC women through both investments and employment. And they’ve launched an effort called the 25 by 25 VC Diversity Pledge to formalize it.
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One of the more recent VCs to call the Portland area home, Black Founders Matter, recently had the opportunity to take Crunchbase through some of the goals and motivations for starting the fund designed to support Black-led businesses.
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If you’re a Black founder seeking venture capital, you may want to look toward a Portland-based fund inspired by the struggles of another Black founder. Marceau Michel knows firsthand the frustrations of raising capital. But that negative experience also served as the motivation to provide a solution for other Black founders: the Black Founders Matter Fund.
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While I’m extremely lucky to get the opportunity to see all kinds of amazing founders and companies here in Portland, it’s always nice when they’re recognized on a larger stage. Like today, when Marceau Michel and his venture capital fund, Black Founders Matter, were featured in The New York Times.
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Speaking of new venture capital funds in Portland… Granted everything is pretty grim right now. And energy is hard to come by. Let alone optimism. So when there is a glimmer of something hopeful in the Portland startup community, that seems like something to celebrate. Like Portland’s Black Founders Matter fund making its first investment. In a Black founded Portland startup. And then that news making it into TechCrunch.
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The dynamics of venture funds are very much akin to the dynamics of startups. It’s rarely smooth. It’s often a series of fits and starts. And fundraising. And pivoting. Until a fund really hits its stride. But I’m happy to report that Black Founders Matter is beginning to get some early traction and has announced its first investment as part of the funding for A Kids Book About.
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Hopefully, you’ve all been tuning in to Stephen Green’s tweets highlighting some amazing black entrepreneurs in Portland. It’s become a tradition designed to help celebrate Black History Month. This year, however, the celebration isn’t just virtual. On the last day of the month, there will be two in person opportunities to celebrate Black History Month and the black entrepreneurs in our community.
I love startup folks. They’re creative. And resilient. And optimistic. And when one path doesn’t pay off, they’ll quickly start right down another one. So it should come as no surprise that two Portland founders—both representing notoriously under funded demographics among the ranks of venture capital funded startups—would look for an opportunity to fund their companies in new way. Meet Fund a Founder.
As much as I love our Portland companies, I’m even happier when they can expand their markets by exporting their goods and services to other communities. It doesn’t matter if they’re tech, creative, food & beverage… you name it. Being part of the “traded sector” helps Portland. So you can only imagine how happy I was when I heard PitchBlack was being shared with other communities as well. They’ll be in Seattle on Wednesday night as part of Techstars Startup Week Seattle.
Startups often raise a lot of capital early. Large fundraising rounds shorten the time you have to thoughtfully build your business. In 2017, I talked about our approach, fundstrapping which still represents how we’re building the business today.
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